president putin signs a bill which includes a bond americans adopting russian children their dislike for has played a russian public opinion by the authorities say it's aimed at the flawed adoption system i think the west. coast massacre shopping spree last gun stores are flooded by customers two weeks after tragic a school shooting in connecticut as barack obama threatened to ban firearms bansal as. a coffee you just don't get good coffee right. what about women that's why many britons including more millionaires than ever want to leave the u.k. in the new future. this

is coming to live. and welcome to the program presentation signed off a bill aimed at the u.s. citizens accused of abusing the human rights of russians that includes a ban on americans adopting russian children the restrictions come about after washington introduced travel and financial sanctions against russian officials it alleges are involved in rights violations this kind of story. oh earlier the president said he saw no reason why the bill shouldn't be passed and signed it on the next day after the final draft got into his office now starting from the first of january american citizens suspected off while ations of the rights of the russian citizens will be banned from entering russia the bill also introduces financial sanctions and restrictions on n.g.o.s and non commercial organizations

with foreign sponsors and also the article which has been more stopped about the ban for all americans to adopt russian children for the past few weeks russian society and even the political elite have been split over the issue and there have been many cases of abuse of russian children and sometimes even deaths after they're brought to the united states and russian president has been saying that this bill is not aimed against people or children but it's aimed against the american system due to a lack of a proper legal reaction from american authorities to these cases including the a lack of heavy jail sentences and other problem is that russian officials are often not even able to monitor what happens to russian children after they're brought to the u.s. one of the reasons behind so much debate around the ban is also that many people are concerned with the state of orphanages in russia and along with signing this bill the president also releasing the gui aimed at improving the lives of orphans

in the country lawmakers from the beginning have been saying that this is a response to the magnitsky act bans passed recently by american lawmakers city game was a russian lawyer who worked for foreign investment funds he was suspected of money laundering but died in prison before a court could make a decision on his case is seen by many in the west especially united states as a victim of various human rights violations and. act basically gives the green light for sanctioning a russian official suspected in the us of being connected with human rights violations in moscow by many officials it's seen as another anti a russian law because it's really not clear on what grounds this black list of names is that is being put together and also we know that some of the names are going to be classified all together. and as the investigation continues into the death of sergei magnitsky in prison and also a court has acquitted

a jailed doctor of negligence leading to loss of life and russia's presidential council on human rights concluded magnitsky had been severely beaten and denied medical treatment while he was held in prison but the judge said she found no evidence that the doctor's actions caused the law's death meatspace family promise to appeal the ruling critics of the new adoption ban and save homes a russian chances of a better of he but a former director of the american adoption congress told us that tracking how russian children are being treated in the u.s. is all but impossible a lot of the cases have gotten very very light sentences for the caretakers whether for store or adoptive of russian children here in the united states but we certainly have no idea how many children are enduring abuses surviving abuses of all kinds the children that died at the hands of their adoptive parents were

tortured in some horrendous ways they were sexually abused they were burnt they were starved they were caged ever any conceivable kind of torture one human being could inflict on another was done to these children so these were the parents that were caught and prosecuted nineteen how many more there's there is absolutely no way of knowing the united states has no system of follow up on adoptions once an adoption is finalized the child is considered as if born to that family gun sales have skyrocketed in the u.s. that's after barack obama a bond on some firearms in the wake of this sunday who school massacre as if he's going at chicago explains that has backfired on obama. about two weeks ago actually on this particular wall here. we are is four rows down four rows across. with

everything going on in politics right now with the possible back and everything everyone is flooding in. purchasing right away gun stores all across the u.s. are reporting record sales just two weeks after the tragic shooting at the elementary school in newtown americans are scrambling to buy the same type of weapon that adam lanza used in the connecticut shooting plus high capacity magazines and a lot of them panic buying trigger it out of fear that the white house is out to ban the weapons but this time the words need to lead to action no a r fifteen for this customer all sold out at the store while prices on line have gone through the roof been going for a thousand and fifteen hundred eight hundred dollars to twenty five hundred three thousand dollars even in some cases it's just the most amazing gun buying spree i've ever seen so many gun retailers now quite cynically refer to the

administration's bent talk as the obama gun stimulus that's how good it's been for their business so how do you go from a president with a tough gun control agenda to someone gun dealers call the greatest gun salesman in america manufacturers of semi-automatic rifles were reported that their market has grown thirty percent over the last four years states like north carolina iowa and you have seen a one hundred percent increase in gun sales over the same period in the wake of the tragedy in newtown one of the country's biggest ammunition suppliers said they sold more than three years worth of magazines in just three days. although president obama himself has so far failed to act on his pledge to ban assault weapons his words have certainly provoked action just not the type you may have wanted or someone they say is against were. doing a great job for us. maybe they should be a third term in order to sell even more weapons many dealers hype up gone

apocalypse scenario so the band they don't know we. really need to start not only started. but many of them don't actually see any drastic changes happening any time soon after all and a significant gun control measures adopted in the past ultimately clashed with the second amendment of the constitution and were subsequently scrapped. were genia i'm going to check on. one group in utah has come up with their own unique way to prevent more shootings by introducing even more guns to schools but to given them to teachers the gun rights advocates have decided to launch shooting lessons for teachers in case of an imagined seem so let us know what you're saying by logging on to your home and giving us your opinion in the comments section. no problem.

iran is holding a fresh round of naval drills in the strait of hormuz one of the world's busiest oil and gas shipping routes the cig's de war games come to the west systematically builds up pressure on iran of its nuclear program and miscalculations of a military confrontation professor said mohammed merah a from the university of tehran has explained why the rains don't think and of pakistan possible any time. in the sense that western countries are brutal and uncivilized enough to carry out an attack i think that that's clear to iran is the fact that western countries are imposing sanctions and embargo on it on iran they're trying to prevent iran from

even importing and exporting medicine and food stuffs by blocking the central bank and there are shortages of some medicines right now in iran and people have died so the fact that western countries are willing to kill ordinary people and to make people suffer i think makes it clear that the idea of carrying out an attack on iran is something that they would contemplate if they could but i think on the other hand the iranians believe that western countries are much weaker today than they ever were before the defeat in iraq and afghanistan the setbacks in. that israel had in lebanon and gaza make as well as the economic crisis in europe in north america make it highly unlikely but the iranians have prepared themselves and i think that itself has been it took deterrents to war so the i think in general the iranians feel that a military assault on iran aggression would be highly unlikely. this is r.t. and still ahead for you this hour washington's financial stability in is close to

the edge of the united states move closer to this cold cliff with congress and the president still struggling to find common ground. and dives deeper into conflict but take a look at the big key developments in the civil war over the last year that's an artery is a record later this hour. a growing number of wealthy britons plan to wave goodbye to the u.k. over the next two years and move their lives and money elsewhere more than a fifth of the country's millionaires are considering emigrating according to a recent survey by lloyds t.s.b. international bank. explains now what exactly is making the rich part of their luxury luggage. blame the dismal weather that's reportedly the overwhelming reason for why one in five british million as a considering upping sticks and leaving the country now those reasons are followed closely by the high rate of crime in the u.k.

and antisocial behavior and then another reason why they might want to leave is the high cost of living here in the u.k. and only in fourth place for my why they might might want to leave is the high rate of personal taxation now where are they growing well top of the list of destinations is france it's nearby and it's warmer weather and same goes for spain which is the other place where they're all thinking of flocking to followed by the usa now we didn't manage to track down any millionaires but we hit the streets of london to talk to the ordinary londoners to ask whether they were considering upping sticks and leaving as well and it looks like most of them agree with the millionaires so let's take a listen to what they told us you consider leaving the u.k. . what reason to climb a. second the dark. ages . would you consider leaving the u.k. and leaving somewhere else i'm going to do really what are the reasons my wife. my

children but also the expense here looks like the middle class professionals are the ones who are actually packing their bags and leaving a recent report by the home office said that more and more middle class we professionals are actually packing their bags and opting to continue their careers elsewhere and for them the main reason is the high rate of personal taxation so it's the millionaires are the ones that don't like the rain then is the middle class professionals the senior managers the academics the scientists that are actually continuing their careers abroad and a lot of business leaders are saying that if the high rate of personal taxation isn't cut it's going to lead to a brain drain for the u.k. in the future so something that's very worrying for politicians to consider here. and i will be back with more news after a short break. if

you're from my generation or younger and you were born into the one percent that i have a lot of college debt i sure do you know the deal used to be that you paid a significant amount for education but in turn that gave you a much higher salary later but now the system works in reverse many young americans studied very hard to not make any money at all around nine percent of americans with student loans have defaulted and at least nine but maybe up to eighteen percent are ninety days late with their payments given the situation the people at u.c. berkeley were nice enough to give away a million dollars in scholarships for everyone everyone that's an illegal immigrant yeah that's right if you're born in america then pay to jump the border and enjoy the red carpet education treatment the people who will be getting the scholarships

are mostly the children of illegal immigrants who spent many of their formative years in america and yeah i could see the logic that could be hard for them to get an education wonder when they aren't citizens but they came into the country illegally it isn't taxpayers jobs to help them but wait berkeley it's a private institution so i guess they can give out the money to whoever they want whenever they want however they want but berkeley management if you're watching this i would really appreciate if you chose some financial mercy to american citizens it isn't like they don't need the help but that's just my opinion.

i

. know as. i am. i. here watching all she welcomed the u.s. is sliding ever closer to what has become known as the fiscal cliff with barack obama hosting another last minute imagines a meeting later today for weeks the republicans and democrats have been trying to reach a deal on how to reduce the national deficit if they don't billions of dollars in tax hikes and spending cuts automatically take effect on january first activist and john it is dumb to boss as it's not the deadlock that bothers him but what has already been every. the real problem in my eyes is not the fact that they can't

reach an agreement but rather that they have reached an agreement on many fundamental things the grievance they have reached is that neither of them are going to advocate put more money in the hands of working people they have no problem whatsoever removing a trillion dollars or two trillion dollars from the economy and delivering it to the bankers they did that inside of twenty days back in two thousand and eight and again in two thousand and nine was very little discussion. everyone agrees on both sides of the aisle that sums sort of reduction in benefits from social security and . quote unquote well you know the russian restore believe that it's inevitable or even that it's not as history and certainly not the best that it's not desirable yet the remit between the democrats and republicans on these fundamental issues is in my mind more important than their disagreement posturing that they're doing for the media basically to try to blame each other for the you know going over the

so-called cliff so that one there's more news to contrast with the line including clamping down on a private christmas policy in saudi arabia local police arrested dozens of brazing a holiday that isn't in line with the country's strong and strict islamic rule. and is to imagine these devastating twisters could be useful for much but one business thanks it can turn them into green and a tree right on. russia during the syrian government to statements that it's ready to talk to opponents speaking to journalists foreign minister sergei lavrov outlines the russians on the how the conflict could be

a result. even though. we actively encourage the syrian leadership to make as concrete as possible is declared readiness for dialog with the opposition you also asking when will the international community make up their minds that bashar assad should go with all due respect to the international community is the syrian people who should make that decision on the international community should not be instigating one of the sides to continue bloodshed or set any preconditions they should instead encourage all the fighting sides to follow the geneva statements which set conditions for the syrians themselves getting all political ethnic and religious groups to agree on which kind of state they want to live in. another also criticised the deep reluctance of the risky opposition group backed by the west to make any concessions of the civil standoff but he stressed that russia is ready to hold talks with the group in the push for a diplomatic solution to the conflict the syrian crisis has dragged on for nearly

two years now with reports of fresh bloodshed on almost daily bases his correspondence as close as they could to the real stories of violence tearing the country apart and that's what we're focusing on today in our series of the events that shaped twenty twelve. it became fairly apparent after a massive regional arab spring and in the wake of that the next contact of a pro-democracy movement and a revolution or civil war was out of what was happening in syria and politicians there and the media focusing just on. cracking down on people you think but what about the other side. of the politics and diplomacy that i simply can't important to ignore. i remember. it was

a training session of the syrian football team and the coach was very angry with how his players were practicing he was shouting he was swearing from time to time and then i moved my head like it's just like this and i saw two helicopters flying at very low altitude and firing we were. close to us there was a group or rich syrians playing cards from the smoke and living life as usual and just. as me and my colleagues were leaving the local t.v. station there was an almost lost a few blocks away most likely most likely people have been killed and what struck you was the coexistence of those two. real it's the reality of death and the law is the most interesting interaction for me with assad happened before and after the interview obviously and that's often the case. i asked him if he's afraid. he said no. he said no i'm not afraid. no one whether you believe the person or not

and the only reason you know if he's right or wrong is intuitional i think series becoming the next iraq it's a country that is totally disempowered from within. and don't surprise or shock anybody and like in the case of for our poll this harm was done to syria with the substantial help of the outsiders on the guise of democratic and. in egypt the country's main opposition leaders are under investigation for allegedly inciting their supporters to overthrow president mohamed morsi approach was announced shortly after the islam has drafted new constitution in trying shari'a law was officially approved in the referendum and writer and journalist neil clark has explained why he thinks morsi is going after the opposition i. think

he wants to sort of deflect attention from the economy because the underlying problem the biggest we're facing is the economic crisis one of four egyptians are without jobs poverty is on the right he just ended subsidies on fuel which means that the prices of gas and electricity are going to rocket and so this is a kind of the smoke screen and he was breaking to get the opposition tied up in these are the legal challenges to it to sort of stop them from focusing on opposing him on the issues where he's very weak and i think also he be worried that you know a sizable minority thirty six over thirty six percent of people voted against the constitution and the fact seems to be that that history is on the way. and i think that obviously you know i think we can see more protests in the new year. as a tourist president morsi braces for a role protests in the coming get ousted leader hosni mubarak is struggling with his health the eighty four year old was ordered it held by the state prosecutor after doctors found fractures in his ribs was

a recent fall the barker led egypt for three decades is serving life in prison for failing to protect protesters killed in the arab spring last year. thousands of sunni muslims in iran have joined protests against the sheer led government of the rallies are the largest public anger is a week of demonstrators that flared up after their arrest of a sunni finance ministers bodyguards many sunni is a who is community dominated iraq until the fall of saddam hussein ten years ago a key is shi'a cheer for it is of refusing to share power. a teenager has committed suicide after being gang raped by three men local police have arrested the suspects named in a so side note left by the victim so two officers had previously been fired for allegedly pressuring the woman to drop the case they said and happened amid mass outrage and protests over the rising number of victims of violent crimes against women. the international monetary fund raising the alarm over germany's reported

austerity plans which up opposed to come into force after next year's elections the measures will apparently include raising the retirement age tax hikes and welfare cuts that could bring europe to a grinding halt according to the i.m.f. or his piece on how small. the top of the european tree but don't think germans feel that they have nothing to grumble about a view a few on both in the park measuring public mood by telephone and face to face through thousands of interviews we've got a pretty good idea of what the people are thinking stats boffins have been gauging the country's mood to come up with the biggest moans of the year from your i've reached germany at number five it's national debt it's better to give than to receive at this time of year but germans festive spirit ran out long ago over chancellor merkel being a little too generous and bailing out countries like greece especially when it's

their money. for is climate change the mayan world ending prophecy may have turned out to be hocus pocus but germans remain seriously concerned about keeping mother earth ticking over for as long as possible number three is a very twenty first century problem getting ripped off online as we bank in shop on the web more than ever before the fear for germans is that someone else is netting their details on their cash. poverty came in second towards the end of the year it was revealed that around a quarter of europeans are at risk of living below the breadline germans watch with despair what's happening to the greeks in spanish images they struggle to shake from their minds but the biggest worry for germans in twenty twelve was rising prices cost so rocketing everywhere from food to fuel and next year looks set to

get even more pricey germany is a world leader in using renewable energy and over the coming year it's the consumer who will be paying to keep it that way with a shocking fifty percent increase in the subsidy paid towards renewable energy sources so that's what troubled germans this year but what are their fears for the future but i'm concerned maybe to find a good job because i want to do something different trying to thirteen minutes on sure what is happening in an economical crisis perhaps the euro is having another crisis but i actually love berlin that's why i want to stay here but if i can't find a job here so will have to try to get somewhere else i worry about everything job crisis everything is going down the hill let people i concerned about job security that they just that yeah the contracts are not secure in our that firms companies

no longer have enough money and that people are just get fired. as with most situations in life when you ask people what their concerns are or what they want to see changed you do have to be prepared that their answers might not be exactly what you want to hear really one of the off the top around us was to legalize soft drugs i don't think that legalizing soft roxanne's when you get cancer you. should have split patients in two thousand and thirteen so what will germans be concerned about at the end of twenty thirteen even though they've less to worry about than most europeans it's unlikely that worries over spending its home on other countries will disappear within twelve months peter all of a r.t. early and dimitri is here with us next with business great to see it as all.